Jeff Burton -- and his team -- like a little more color in their uniforms, unlike the white suit Burton wore for much of 2004. Credit: Autostock

Burton knows both sides of sponsorship game

From a white suit in '04 to a patch-filled one now, he's seen it all

FORT WORTH, Texas -- There was Jeff Burton, standing beside his four Roush Racing teammates decked in colorful sponsor-covered uniforms for a photo shoot before the 2004 Nextel Cup season, and all he had was a plain white driver's suit with his name on it.

His car was the same.

	Credit: Autostock
	Chase for the Nextel Cup Next: Texas (8th of 10 races) Rank +/- Driver Behind 1. -- M. Kenseth Leader 2. +1 J. Johnson -26 3. +1 D. Hamlin -65 4. +2 D. Earnhardt Jr. -84 5. -- J. Burton -84 6. -4 K. Harvick -121 7. +2 J. Gordon -146 8. -1 M. Martin -201 9. -1 K. Kahne -210 10. -- Ky. Busch -249 • Complete standings, click here

"To be honest, it was a little bit humiliating, a little bit embarrassing,'' Burton recalled. "When you've gotten to the point in your career where you feel like you've done a lot and feel well respected and you can't get sponsorships, it's difficult.''

Flash forward to Friday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway. Burton was standing in the media center announcing that Lenox Industrial Tools, which has been an associate sponsor at Roush, would be an associate sponsor on his No. 31 Chevrolet at Richard Childress Racing in 2007.

He then returned to the garage where his orange driver's suit and RCR car were adorned with 10 sponsors, primary and associate, in a time when six sponsors are about average.

As happy as Burton is to be doing well on the track -- he's fifth in points with three races to go in the championship chase -- he's just as happy to be doing well off the track.

There are no daily worries about whether there is enough sponsor money to run his car, which at one point in 2004 was committed to only 14 races.

"Going to the Daytona 500 with the question being what's going to happen to this team was very distracting,'' Burton said. "No matter how hard you tried it was very difficult to stay focused.

"People forget this is what we do for a living. We had crew members with family and kids in school and car payments and house payments and working on a team without a sponsor. That's a difficult thing.''

It was especially difficult for a driver that had won 17 races and finished in the top 12 in points from 1997 through 2003, including a career-best third in 2000.

That's a big reason Burton came to RCR.

"I just felt like No. 1 we could run well here and whenever you run well it certainly secures and keeps sponsors,'' he said.

Owner Richard Childress said selling Burton to Cingular, the primary sponsor of the 31, wasn't a problem. He can't imagine it would be difficult for anyone to sell a driver with Burton's track record and reputation for being well spoken.

"The owners are the ones that have to take drivers to sponsors and say these are the guys I think can do it. " - Jeff Burton

"Jeff was marketable the whole time,'' Childress said. "We just got behind him. Jeff is as good a spokesman as anybody I've worked with.''

Burton appreciates the way Childress told the sponsors he was their driver. He said it appears too often owners go in with a list of several drivers and ask which works best for them.

"When I was considering what I wanted to do in the future, Richard Childress Racing wasn't the only place I looked,'' Burton said. "That's what became very clear to me. The car owner had to be willing to say, 'This is our guy.'

"When he starts saying, 'We've got five people to pick from, who do you want?' that's a bad way to start the deal. Then if you don't run well, the car owner is saying, 'Well, he wasn't who I wanted anyway. Then it starts a downward spiral.' ''

Burton has watched with great anguish as his brother, Ward is told by teams they'll give him a ride if he can find a sponsor.

"The driver has got to be marketable and the driver has got to prove he can do the job,'' said Burton, who will start 29th on Sunday. "But the driver can't be the one selling a sponsorship. Nor should we be the ones telling them what springs to put in the cars.

"We have a specialty in this sport. And when we try to get out of that we end up making mistakes.''

Burton said what his brother, who on Sunday will drive his second race for Morgan-McClure Racing in what he hopes will become a full-time job in 2007, has gone through is ridiculous.

Fantasy ReportMarty Snider and Danielle Frye make their picks for Texas Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

"It needs to work the other way,'' he said. "A car owner needs to go to the sponsor and say this is the guy that can drive the car, and he can also do a good job of helping with the product.

"If a team won't do that or can't do that, then he won't be able to get a ride.''

Burton said it's a copout when owners tell drivers they can't hire them because the sponsor wants somebody else.

"In all fairness, that's a bunch of crap,'' he said. "The owners use that as an excuse. The owners are the ones that have to take drivers to sponsors and say these are the guys I think can do it.''

Having gone through 2004, Burton appreciates the importance of sponsors more than at anytime during his Cup career that began in 1993.

He definitely feels a renewed sense of pride walking through the garage in a uniform covered in patches.

"No question about it,'' he said. "And who's on your uniform is really cool. When I look at my uniform, my car, I'm looking at the Who's Who of corporate America. We don't have Joe's Body Shop. We have quality name recognition sponsors. People know what they are.

"Not having a sponsor in 2004 was a good experience for me in retrospect. But going through it, it wasn't fun.''